Plausible Deniability
by Dandesun
Summary: Todd reaches out to Blair & they start an affair in the midst of their on-going custody battle. They work to fix things while dealing with the gigantic mess they've made of their life together & what that means for their future. Meanwhile, Tea thinks she's got a wide open road into Llanview society but reality comes roaring in to make her question just what she got herself into.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I started this in the early 00's sparked from an idea on a message board way back when. This was also at a time when Todd and Blair were one of the most celibate pairings ever... they barely even used to kiss much less have a love scene so fan fic was a way to really get that particular frustration out.

I'm not a fan of Tea Delgado but I still wanted to treat her like an actual character and I just can't buy that she'd put up with Todd's shit for too long. Also, Blair being destitute and easy to bully never sits right. I tend to write for Blair more than anything and this is no different. There will probably be continuity errors and then it veers off into AU in a big way.

Ultimately though, it's a story about Todd and Blair.

Sometimes he wondered where the hell the things that came out of his mouth actually came from. Not from him. They couldn't be from him. What had he wanted when he started all of this? He wanted Starr. He wanted his daughter. Blair was dying and he couldn't lose both of them.

But Blair didn't die. She survived and had come up fighting. If he thought about it, he probably should have expected that. Blair was nothing if not a survivor. So, there he was with his new wife and Blair was fighting like crazy...

For Starr.

If he was going to be honest with himself he would have to admit that he was bothered by the fact that she wasn't fighting for him. _Get real, Manning,_ a faraway voice in his head whispered. _She fought for you the entire time after you came back. Even when she found out about your taking Starr she was coming back. You're the one who threw her away..._

He turned back to look at her. She was sitting on a park bench trying to stem the flood of tears that had started when he walked away from her. He should go... Tea was in the hospital because Blair shoved her out a window. They were right in the middle of an ugly custody battle and he couldn't afford to show _any_ weakness.

But... God dammit... Blair was _crying_! And Blair didn't cry unless she was seriously hurting. Everyone always talked about her crocodile tears but he'd never seen a less than genuine tear come out of those double-daring, flashing green eyes.

 _Do you have a time machine?_

His words sounded so cold as they echoed around in his head. He felt cold inside and out, frozen by betrayal and loss and loneliness. There were so few times in his life where he felt warm, cherished by someone who loved him. Blair had been one of those times.

He should go. His wife was in the hospital...

 _Your wife is sitting on a park bench, crying because her husband won't let her come home,_ that faraway voice said harshly. _She just_ asked _you to let her into your life again, you selfish prick! You can be the bastard everyone says you are and walk away or you can be the man_ she _knows you are and go back to her._

He started walking.

Blair's cries faded as she looked up at him. She hastily wiped her eyes and turned away, not wanting him to see that he left her in such a state.

Todd sat down next to her and leaned his elbows on his knees. He looked at the grass then looked up at the sky. He had to be very careful. If he opened his mouth and something typically horrible came out of him, Blair would probably slap him and then leave and he'd never have this kind of opportunity again. He could feel his world lurching out of control and that faraway voice inside of him _knew_ that this was his one chance to make everything right again.

He looked at her and saw that she was eyeing him warily. He almost got up and left but there was something in those bright green eyes that kept him right where he was. The faintest glimmer of hope. Even though it looked like she expected him to take another shot at her, there was that fragile look of longing that suggested that she wanted him to love her again.

Todd felt a soft smile touch his lips. "So tell Uncle Todd," he murmured. "What seems to be the trouble?"

Blair's lip quivered and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. She reached forward and stroked his hair albeit clumsily. She wasn't able to say anything but a broken half-sob, half-laugh burst out of her before she scooted closer to him.

Todd straightened up as she moved nearer and before he knew it, he'd curled one arm around her back and was pulling her against him, wrapping his other arm around her in a tight embrace. He could feel her breath against his neck and he closed his eyes. _This_ was right. His fingers skimmed down her spine and he felt her body shudder the way it always used to when he did that.

Pulling back slightly, he brushed his lips against her cheek tasting the tears that had fallen. He heard her sniff then felt her lips meet his. As always, one taste was never enough. His hand slid up to the back of her head and he pressed his mouth against hers in a hungry, desperate kiss. He'd been dreaming of her lips ever since Ireland. Of her lips and her hands and her hair... of the gentle curve of her breast and the sweet swell of her hips... of the way her body reacted to him and the way he felt when he was buried inside of her.

A soft mewl escaped her as he made her mouth his again. He knew, he _knew_ that he could never leave her again. Blair was his. Oh God, she was his! And feeling her in his arms was like he'd finally come home. He'd come home for real.

Thoughts of the McPoet came unbidden to his mind. Todd pulled back and looked at Blair. Her green eyes were gazing at him with such love... love he hadn't seen or felt since their wedding night. Maybe he _did_ have a time machine. It just didn't work without Blair.

"Blair..." he tangled his fingers in her hair and pictured her with the McPoet again. The anger he always felt didn't seem to want to come. After everything, blowing up the yacht, Blair's accident, Starr's illness, Blair's miscarriage... he let one hand drift down to press against her stomach, then further down to caress her legs. _She's suffered enough,_ he thought. _I put her through enough hell... let everyone else hurt her, too... God let it be over._

She watched him, her fingers rubbing strands of his hair softly. She wasn't asking anything of him. She was just sitting there, loving him.

Loving him! He could see it in her eyes and feel it in her touch and taste it on her lips. Todd kissed her again, letting his tongue slide between her lips to explore every inch of the mouth he once knew so intimately. _I've put us both through enough hell..._ He pulled back again and took her hands in both of his. "I can fix it, Blair. I swear I can. I can fix _everything_."

Blair smiled gently and nodded. "Let me help."


	2. Chapter 2

Blair looked out the window of the hotel room and tried not to look at the clock again. _Todd said he'd meet me here,_ she told herself firmly. _Hell, he gave me the money for the room. He's not going to let his precious cash go to waste._ She walked over to the mirror of the dresser and fluffed her hair. _Unless he wants to see how much of a sucker you really are..._

She shook her head. "No," she said aloud. "He wouldn't back out. He wouldn't."

It was strange how one minute she was wondering if there was anything to look forward to and the next everything was possible again. She had put her heart on the line, asking Todd for another chance and, at first, he had walked away with nothing but cold words to answer her plea. And then he was back...

And when they kissed... oh God, when they kissed. Was there anything else in the world but them? Blair went back to the window. He promised to fix things. He promised all sorts of things. In between kisses he promised her that they would be together again. They'd be a happy little family with Starr the way they should have been from the start. He promised he would make everything right.

Blair knew it was going to be a lot more complicated than that. He had another wife to worry about. And they were in the middle of a custody battle and... could it be true? Could he _really_ want to start over? Could they get over the hurt and come together again for real? Blair clasped her hands together and looked up reverently. "I know I'm probably not Your favorite," she prayed quietly. "But, please... he's the only person who has ever really loved me and he's the only man I've ever really loved. I know we've hurt each other and we probably will again but we need each other. And we've got a little girl and we both love her so so much. _Please_ let us have this chance."

A soft knock at the door was the answer to her prayer. Blair moved towards it and looked through the peephole. Todd was at the door, looking down the hallways and fidgeting while he waited for her. She opened the door and he quickly slipped inside.

She stood back as he shut the door behind him, turned the deadbolt and put the chain on the door. "How's Starr?"

Todd moved to close the drapes. "Starr's fine. She's staying with Viki tonight. I told her I was going to be working and making arrangements all night. What about you?"

"I told Cassie I needed to be alone." Blair sat down on the edge of the bed, a haunted look in her eye. "Todd... I didn't mean for that to happen."

He sighed. Admittedly, his first thought when Blair shoved Delgado out the window was that his bid for Starr's custody just crashed right along with her. Delgado was okay for a chick lawyer but he was growing increasingly uncomfortable with her the longer he lived with her. People thought _he_ was obsessive but, good Lord, the woman was almost too much to deal with. "What happened?"

Blair's hands clenched into fists as she remembered Tea taunting her about what a wonderful marriage she had with Todd and how Starr was beginning to look at her as her mother. "Are you sleeping with her, Todd?"

He probably shouldn't have grinned at that but he couldn't help it. There was something gratifying about knowing that Blair was bothered by the idea of him sleeping with someone else. It suggested that she _would_ have fought for him if he had given her a reason to, rather than leaving her twisting in the wind because of her evil aunt.

"You don't act like lovers," Blair continued. "I know how you would look at me when we were together and you don't look at her like that. She doesn't look at you like a lover would, either."

"No one else seems to have noticed," Todd frowned.

Blair looked at him. "They don't know what you're like underneath that reputation you cultivate so carefully," she murmured, reaching up with one hand to touch his face. "I remember the way you looked at me after our Christmas… thing. I remember the way you looked at me at the Gold Star Gala that we crashed. I remember the way you looked at me after that night in the stables. You would look at me like you wanted to shove the entire world into next week so we could be alone. You were my lover once, Todd," the tip of her nose brushed against his. "I know what to look for."

"You never said anything," he replied.

"What could I say? No one who would believe me even cares. No one who cares would believe me." Her hand slid from his cheek to his neck. "So, tell me Todd. Are you sleeping with her?"

"No," he breathed in her scent and couldn't remember a time when he wanted her so badly. "I'm not. I don't even sleep in the same room as her." Delgado had been pretty adamant about making sure she wouldn't have to put out to the rapist but it sure didn't stop her from wearing a bunch of skimpy nightgowns or strut around in his shirts. The more he thought about it, the weirder it was. Not that he didn't look, she was a pretty good looking woman but...

He looked at Blair. She was wearing jeans and a button down shirt over a tank top and he thought she was the sexiest, most vibrant woman he'd ever seen. If he stood Blair in what she was wearing now next to Delgado in one of her low cut silk numbers there would be no contest. Blair could outshine her without even trying. At least she would in his eyes.

"Does Starr call her 'Mommy?'" Blair's voice trembled as she asked the question. _Oh God, don't let it be true._

Todd pulled back. "What?!"

"That's what she said tonight," Blair admitted, flushing as she relived the horrifying minutes between shoving Tea through the glass and then being told she was alive. She had never known that kind of rage before and it scared the hell out of her. Worse... that the woman who incited it was living with her daughter, and that her daughter might actually be looking at that woman as her mother.

"That's what set you off," Todd ran his fingers through his hair and stood up. "Jesus, Blair, no wonder..." If someone had suggested that Starr was calling someone else 'Daddy' he'd have killed them. No doubt in his mind. _That's what she meant by 'plausible deniability.' If I knew that she was going to go after Blair like that... Christ, Blair just lost a baby! Delgado feeds her that line of shit right after she suffered a miscarriage? Who the hell is this woman?!_ The alarming part of it was that he knew Delgado had this merciless streak in her. He'd counted on it in order to insure that he hold onto Starr. As usual, he let his desperation and recklessness cause more trouble than he'd anticipated.

He turned to look at Blair and saw her eyes pleading with him to tell her it wasn't true. "Listen to me," he sat next to her again. "Starr _knows_ who her mother is, okay? She knows you, Blair, I promise. She's never called Delgado 'Mommy' and she never will. We're gonna fix this, okay? But... it's not going to be easy."

"Why," Blair burst out, grabbing his face in her hands. "Why can't we just go to Santa Domingo and get a quickie divorce for you and get married again? Why can't we do that?"

It was tempting. Todd thought that there was little in the world he would rather do than make Blair officially his again right away. "No... listen to me, babe," he sighed. "I've fucked things up enough by jumping into things. I want to do this right. I want to make sure that no one can come after us without screwing _themselves_ worse than they'd screw us."

She looked at him. _Are you setting me up, Todd Manning?_ Blair searched for anything that would give her a clue that he was going to turn his back and leave her to the wolves again but there was nothing. When she looked at him she could feel that he was with her in every way. She smiled wickedly. "That means we're going to be adulterers."

Todd raised his eyebrows at her. "Maybe this time we'll have that love affair that lasts forever." He smiled when her eyes recognized what he'd said and she seemed to radiate love and passion directly at him.

"Maybe," she whispered.

Todd threw her back onto the bed and prepared to finally, finally, come home.


	3. Chapter 3

Just the feeling of their bodies pressing against each other again was enough to put Todd and Blair into lustful overdrive. Between frantic kisses they shed their clothes as quickly as they could, paying no mind to any traditional ideas of romance and seduction. The need to _feel_ each other again overrode everything else. When they were naked they stretched out on the bed, wrapping arms around each other and almost _melting_ together.

Blair cried out in pleasure as he pulled her tight against him. She wanted to laugh, she wanted to cry, she wanted to scream out in joy at having her beautiful Todd back in her arms. "I've missed you," she sighed, as his mouth moved down her neck, sucking and licking her skin as if he couldn't get enough of her taste.

As her hands drifted up his back she felt his body tense. He lifted his head to look at her. His hooded expression inspired a puzzled one on hers and then she felt it. The skin felt _different_ and Blair knew that she had found the scars from Ireland. She met Todd's gaze unwavering and reached around with one hand to touch the scar on his cheek. He was holding his breath as he waited for her to say something, _do_ something.

Blair raised her head to kiss him gently. "Let me see them, Todd."

Tea Delgado Manning felt the effects of the painkillers settle over her and sighed softly. Her plan to provoke Blair had worked better than she thought. She had expected Blair to lose her temper and start a screaming match. She had expected a slap or two. Maybe at the most she would have expected Blair to try to take her down in one of those stereotypical hair-pulling matches that were such wonderful ammunition in court.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think Blair would assault her so dangerously. The only real downside to it was that she, personally, could have died. But since she didn't it all worked out brilliantly. Blair was so horrified by what happened that she would go out of her way to _not_ attack her in the future. The courts would see how dangerously unbalanced she was and she and Todd were _sure_ to get custody of Starr.

Not only that but people had been visiting her since she was cleared to have them. All the suspicion that people had been carrying around in regards to her marriage to Todd had disappeared under expressions of sympathy and solidarity. Now she was the new wife being brutalized by the jealous ex. Blair had inadvertently legitimized her marriage to Todd. How easy it had been. Just push a few hot buttons and _voilà_. Even Todd had been by earlier expressing all sorts of regret for getting her into this and Tea knew she couldn't let this opportunity slip by.

She would have everything she ever wanted. No one would look down on her again.

Kelly Cramer knocked on the door of Llanfair and prayed that she was doing the right thing. She didn't know which end was up anymore and all she wanted was to turn the clock back and make things right for Blair again. That, of course, was impossible and her testimony in court had been viewed as a complete betrayal.

Then there was the accident.

Kelly loved her older cousin desperately. She wanted to comfort her but Blair couldn't stand to be near her. She supposed that it made sense. If the situations had been reversed, wouldn't she feel the same way? Mel and Dorian were trying to help but it was doing more harm than good. Kelly was at a loss. There was only one thing she could do now.

Viki's housekeeper showed her into the library where Viki was contemplating the fire nursing a drink. She looked tired and worried. Kelly could sympathize. Everyone seemed tired and worried anymore. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed and meant it. "I'm sorry for coming at such a late hour, Viki," she said, "but I just didn't know what else to do."

Viki gestured to a nearby chair. "Would you like a drink?"

"No, thank you."

"I don't normally have nightcaps anymore," Viki sighed wearily. "After tonight, though, I just felt like it would help to settle my nerves. Starr's asleep upstairs so I didn't think it would hurt."

"Starr's here?"

Viki nodded. "Todd said he had to take care of a number of things and would be working through the night. And with Tea being in the hospital... well anyway, she's sleeping. Blissfully unaware of what has happened tonight."

"Tea's going to be okay, right?" Kelly asked. It was bad enough what had happened between her and Blair. Kelly had seen Blair's face after the glass broke and it had haunted her all night. The way people seemed to close around her and the look of horror and defeat on her beautiful face. Blair knew that no one would defend her because what she did was indefensible.

But Kelly had heard it all.

"The doctors seem to think so," Viki replied. "She's very lucky. She could have very easily been killed. I know that tensions have been high between Blair and Tea since her marriage to Todd. Not to mention the immense stress Blair has been under recently. And she has always been very high-strung. But this..." she shook her head. "I just don't know what could have set her off."

Kelly looked at her hands clasped tightly in her lap and sent up yet another frantic prayer that she was doing the right thing. "I know what set her off, Viki. I heard every word."

Todd moaned softly as he felt first fingers then lips then tongue caress each scar on his back. The bullet wounds were there along with the lovely textured flesh that was the result of being tossed around the Irish Sea. He should have known that Blair wouldn't care. She was never put off by any of the scars he carried and it wasn't as though he didn't have any bullet wounds _before_ he went to Ireland. Blair had always just accepted him.

God, what a small, cramped little man he'd been.

Not that he was okay with the McPoet sleeping with his woman because he wasn't and he never would be. Blair being pregnant with his kid had made it all the harder to get over. And he hadn't been particularly amenable about it anyway. He resented the whole situation, kicking himself for not taking his wife to bed immediately, kicking himself for getting mixed up in the entire situation in the first place. Why the hell did he stick around to babysit Marty's lover?

It didn't matter anymore. _What's done is done_. And when push came to shove and no one would do what had to be done and tell Blair the truth. Who had done it? It certainly hadn't been that stupid mick with the superiority complex. No, it was _him_ , Todd Manning.

"I made them show me where you were shot," Blair whispered as she touched him. "I kissed the ground and laid down on it wishing with all of my heart that I could die, too."

"Glad you didn't," he told her, looking over his shoulder as she leaned forward to kiss him. "Since I wasn't dead or anything."

"I stayed alive for Starr," she said softly. "And then I stayed alive so I could get revenge."

"I know," Todd turned to pull her into his lap. "You told me."

"I didn't think you heard me."

"I heard you, Blair, I just didn't want to. It was easier not to." He looked down at her legs and he stroked them softly. "How do they feel?"

"They're getting stronger every day," she murmured, her face flushing deeply. She hated being perceived as weak. And after the accident that was how she felt. Her body betrayed her in every way. She could barely function and when she woke up her entire life had been ripped away from her when she was completely defenseless.

But now, being here with Todd, his skin against hers, her fingers playing with the hair on his chest, she felt like she was able to put her life back together again. She and Todd had so much to straighten out between them but she was willing to put those aside until they were actually _together_ to work them out.

He kept touching her, his fingers brushing over her hips and her stomach and the curls between her legs. "I don't know what to do, Blair," he whispered. "Part of me wants to be inside you so bad I can't think straight. The other part wants to touch and taste every part of you." He raised his head to meet her eyes. "Tell me what you want me to do."

Blair kissed him again. She could never get enough of kissing him. "Is this the only time I'll have with you?"

Todd studied her expression. No begging, no tears, no malice, just a simple, straightforward question. He'd almost forgotten what those were like. "No."

"Then take me now," she covered his mouth with hers in a deep kiss. "We've waited long enough, sweetie. I want you. Oh God, I want you so bad."

It was all he needed to hear. Falling back onto the bed, he maneuvered her under him and shoved himself inside her with a quick, hard jab. When he felt her legs wrap around him he couldn't stifle the gasps of pleasure that rushed out of him. She felt so good around him. It had been so long. This was so right.

Their coupling became wild and frenetic almost instantly. Mouths traveled clumsily across the other's face and neck, hands grasped, bodies strained. As he exploded inside her, Todd heard himself calling out her name over and over again. "Blair... God, Blair... love you... love you... my Blair..."

Viki watched Kelly disappear into the night and went upstairs to check on Starr. As she watched the little girl sleeping peacefully she wondered if it was possible to keep her out of the Penthouse as long as Tea Delgado so-called Manning was living there. She didn't want to believe what Kelly had told her at first. She didn't want to believe that anyone would be so malicious as to taunt a mother with the _idea_ that their child no longer knew her as their mother.

She knew Todd had been desperate to keep Starr when Blair was on the brink of death. She wondered if _he_ was even aware of what he'd aligned himself with.

Viki promised herself that she would help Blair see her child as much as possible. She had bent over backwards to let Todd develop a relationship with his child when he had first returned. She had even let him get away with _kidnapping_ the baby, for reasons she wasn't even sure she remembered at this point. If she could do it for the father then she could do the same for the mother.

As a mother herself, Viki couldn't stand by and let Tea manipulate things so viciously. Viki had several ideas on how to deal with the situation. But first, she would talk to Todd.


	4. Chapter 4

Blair always slept like the dead after a good round of sex. Todd lay on his back looking up at the ceiling as he held Blair in his arms. Every now and then she'd let loose a loud snore and, being the sentimental fool that he was, he just loved every minute of it.

Actually, he'd always taken Blair's post-coital sleeping habits as something of a challenge. How could he wake her up? How far could he get with her before she _did_ wake up?

He ran his hand from her shoulder to her fingers, picking up her hand and bringing it to his mouth. He kissed each fingertip then the palm of her hand then slid each finger separately into his mouth and sucked on them. He had a lot to reacquaint himself with. Blair hummed lightly in her sleep as he touched her. He was certain he was in heaven.

Except heaven didn't have lawyer wives in hospitals waiting for him to come back and congratulate her on her masterful play. Todd had gone to the hospital to see Tea after meeting Blair in the park. During his first visit he'd been contrite and sad that he'd gotten her mixed up with his wildcat of an ex-wife. When he went back he was trying to figure out how best to extricate himself from his sham marriage and make things right again.

Tea had been pretty doped up on painkillers and she looked exactly how a person who had gone through a plate glass window and dropped two stories ought to look. Which was to say, pretty gnarly, but there was a look in her eye that unsettled him. He kept telling her that she didn't have to go through with this and he meant it. He didn't know what it meant that she was willing to go to such lengths for his sake and the fact that he cared so very little about her made it worse.

Was she trying to prove something to him? Was she trying to show him the lengths of her devotion? Todd didn't know. He'd said numerous times that their relationship was a business relationship and she seemed to agree but she seemed to want to up the stakes as well. As she drifted off to sleep before he left her she mumbled to him: "Starr will be ours, Todd."

Meeting Blair at the hotel room and hearing what Tea had said to her at the party had thrown him again. Tea was going down a dangerous road. If he didn't know better he'd swear that she was steering them down a course to possibly make their marriage real. And that was something he simply had no intention of doing.

Especially now.

Maybe he could talk to Viki. He'd have to talk to her when he went to pick up Starr. But there was something else he needed to do. Something that would start him down the road that would lead him back to the Promised Land.

Or at least his and Blair's version of it.

The contract was the key. It was his downfall as far as the custody case went but if he played his cards rights that wouldn't be a problem. If he and Blair were together then he didn't _need_ to get custody of Starr because they wouldn't be fighting over it. There was the little matter of fraud but Todd shook his head.

Fraud was hardly the worst thing he'd ever done. He'd do his best and try to live with himself.

While he was trying to live with himself, maybe he'd better wake Blair up for another roll. In the morning, they'd have to go back to hissing at each other from across rooms. He slid one hand down to the small of her back and let his fingers brush against her teasingly. She squirmed against him and he bit his lip. He loved the way her body moved against him.

"Come on, baby," he whispered into her ear. "Open your eyes." He shifted them around so that she was lying on top of him. He kissed her shoulder, letting his tongue have a taste of her sweet smelling skin, and ran his hands up and down her back. "Wake up, Blair."

She sighed deeply and stirred under his touch. "Todd..." she whispered. "Don't leave me..."

The words felt like a kick in the gut. Was she dreaming of Ireland or something? Or maybe the park where they were just a few short hours ago. He wondered if he would have heard those words before? Probably not, he was so twisted up inside with anger. Anger at everything. Anger at having been suckered into a good deed gone wrong. Anger at losing months of his life for someone he didn't even know. Anger at coming home to Patrick and Blair on the floor of his house. Anger at life going on without him. Anger at his own inability to move on and own up.

Well, he _could_ move on and he _could_ own up and he was going to do it because _not_ doing it sucked. He was still going to be angry, that was fine. He loved anger but he wasn't going to let it own him. Wasn't that what Ray talked to him about all those years ago in prison?

Todd knew he was doing the right thing this time. He felt it in his guts. He didn't have that sick feeling that went along with bad decisions made for what he thought were the right reasons. For the first time in a long time, he felt strong enough for the fight he was facing.

"Blair... wake up, babe."

She stirred again and opened her eyes. She looked up at him with a bleary expression and smiled. "Hello handsome."

"Hey."

She stretched on top of him, inciting a groan from him, and touched his lips. "I like the way you feel next to me."

"I like the way I feel _in_ you."

Blair chuckled. "You do have a way with words, Todd. You always did."

Todd stroked her back, craning his neck forward to kiss her. She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled his mouth tight against hers, slipping her tongue between his lips to taste him. They lay like that for several minutes, kissing and touching and just taking the time to reintroduce their bodies to each other. Their quick and desperate joining before had merely served to quench their immediate desire but this was just as necessary. Maybe more so. They had to know each other again.

"Listen," Todd rested his head against the pillows. "I gotta ask... are you sleeping with anyone right now?"

Blair blinked at him. Was he kidding? She'd spent the last few months reeling from one life altering thing to another. She didn't have _time_ to pick up a man in the meantime.

"Never mind," he said quickly. "Maybe it's better if I don't know."

Blair blinked again. "What?!"

"Like I've got room to talk right?" He shrugged. "I went and got married. For all anyone knows I'm getting it on all the time with Tea."

"Nice image," Blair said dryly.

"Hey, I'm not," Todd met her eyes. "I told you before but I'll say it however many times you want. I'm not sleeping with her. Never have. Never will. I sure as hell wouldn't do anything to fuck things up with you now."

She smiled at him.

"You don't have to tell me, Blair," he said, the effort of being mature about this was making his back hurt. "Just, you know, if you _are_ sleeping with someone... well, you've got to stop, okay?"

"I'm not."

He glanced at her.

"I've been a little busy, Todd," Blair gave him a long-suffering look. "I've been learning how to walk again, I've been trying to rebuild my life, trying to make sure people _know_ that I can take care of my daughter. Doing all of that leaves me with little time to go trolling for men."

"I haven't really let myself think about that," Todd admitted. "If I did, then I'd just want to help you instead of going after what I wanted."

"I thought I was a part of what you wanted."

"I didn't think I had a chance with you," he cocked his head at her. "I wasn't sure if I wanted another chance or not but I didn't think I had one so I didn't think about it."

"We have a lot to settle between us, Todd," Blair kissed him over and over. "But we'll deal with that when we can actually do something about it. Right now, we need to keep our eyes on the prize."

"Eyes on the prize, huh?" Todd slipped one hand between her legs from behind, teasing the folds of her sex with his fingertips. "I know what my prize is, Wildcat."

Blair snickered, letting her eyes roll back as she felt him begin to probe her. "You've always been a man of simple tastes, Todd. You prefer beer to wine, fried chicken to filet mignon, and a good fuck to a long talk."

"You always were a good fuck, baby."

"I should be insulted by that, I think," it was hard to think when he had his fingers inside of her like that. It was hard to think when his cock throbbed against her belly promising all sorts of damp pleasure.

"Like I don't talk to you, Blair?" Todd licked her neck. "We've been talking like crazy since we made up in the park. I talk to you. I just think, for us, sex is a good way of saying what you can't say with words. Come on... you know that, don't you?"

"Mmmm," Blair sat up and positioned herself over him. Grabbing a hold of his length she lowered herself onto it with a deliciously slow pace. "Keep talking, honey. You do have quite the gift of gab."

Todd grinned as he began to bounce her up and down on him. "Whatever you say, Blair. Whatever you say."


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you think?"

Viki looked around the Penthouse and frowned. All of the sleek, modern decor that used to be there had been replaced by overstuffed opulence. While Viki was not a fan of contemporary decor, she had to admit that Blair's decoration of the penthouse had warmth and heart. This current redesign looked soulless and empty despite the obvious expense. It certainly suggested that Todd either didn't have any particular sense of style or the person he was styling it for was someone he wasn't particularly connected to. Or was her own perceptions colored by what she knew? "It looks like the cover of _Nouveau Riche_ magazine," she said dryly. "What did you do?"

"I figured that Delgado would like to come back to something more her speed," Todd looked around the living room and quelled a shudder. "She's had a hard couple of days, you know? Just thought it would be a nice thing to do."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah," Todd shoved his hands in his pockets. Actually, the redesign was supposed to keep Delgado blissfully unaware of what he was doing elsewhere. She'd proven to be a sucker for expensive gifts and so he'd use them to keep stars in her eyes and not on him. He was off to Philadelphia to talk with the Lord stable of lawyers and try to figure out how he could get out of the mess he was in without leaving himself vulnerable to what was likely going to be a very pissed off Delgado.

"You must be very pleased with the court's decision," Viki said sharply, her voice betraying the utter disgust she felt for the entire fiasco. Tea had hobbled into the courtroom on crutches, a very vivid illustration of Blair's volatile and dangerous temper. Viki had been tempted to snatch the crutches away from the woman and beat her to death with them. Kelly's explanation of what had triggered Blair's temper was still fresh in Viki's mind and it made her sick to her stomach. "You've got custody of Starr. Now what?"

"What do you mean?" Todd eyed his sister, wondering how he should broach the subject of getting out of his contract with Delgado. What would Viki say about it? She didn't seem to be in a very good mood, that much was obvious. It looked like she wanted to spit on him.

Viki glared at him frostily. "Todd, what you're doing is absolutely reprehensible! I have been standing quietly by and trying to help you through all of this but I simply _cannot_ do so any longer!"

"Quietly?" Todd asked in disbelief. "In what world?!" His eyes widened at her sudden outburst. What the hell was wrong with her?

"I thought that you should see your daughter," Viki rubbed her eyes wearily. "I thought that you should see what your love for Blair brought into this world. I thought that you should see that something good _could_ come from you and that you should give your life here another chance. I let you _terrorize_ Blair when you kidnapped Starr... and now I'm letting you _rip_ her child away with the help of an absolutely _detestable_ woman who I wouldn't trust to look after a _goldfish_ much less a _child_ after hearing what she did to Blair!"

Todd gaped at Viki's outburst, then scowled darkly at her. "Oh great, lecture time already?"

Viki just wanted to punch him. Sometimes she wondered if that was the only way to get through to her stubborn Lord men. Kevin was the same way. Joey was, thankfully, a level-headed Riley and much easier to talk sense into, even if his loyalty was often misplaced. "I'd be wasting my breath, wouldn't I? Let me just ask you one question."

"Fine," Todd snapped. "One question."

"Did you know what Tea was going to say to Blair at the gala?"

"How..." Todd's eyes widened. "How did you know about that?"

A loud crack had his head snapping sideways before he could even blink. Todd saw stars swirling in front of his eyes and suddenly he heard Viki screaming at him in rage. "How _dare_ you!"

Blair stared out the window of her room and clutched the pillow tightly to her chest. She had been prepared to lose. She had told herself that she didn't have a snowball's chance in hell to win that custody case after being gaslighted so thoroughly by Todd and Tea. Still, she just wanted the earth to open up and swallow her when Tea limped in on her crutches.

She looked horrible and Blair found herself torn between the horror of what she'd done and wishing she'd been a bit more thorough. The gasps that rippled through the courtroom and the look of condemnation that Blair had received from the judge just felt like salt in an open wound.

She had wanted so much to look at Todd, to get reassurance from him that everything was going to be okay, but she didn't dare. After their night together they had sworn that no one could be able to tell what was really going on with them. Everyone had to think that they were enemies bitterly contesting over the custody of their daughter.

Tea's performance had been quite masterful, Blair had to admit that much. She had not sent any smirking looks of triumph across the room, she had merely stated her case that Blair was irrational and a danger to herself and others and could not be trusted to care for a young child. Blair almost got up and applauded. She wondered if she ought to order one of those fake Oscars and engrave it with "Best Line of Bullshit: Tea Delgado" and mail it to the penthouse with a bouquet of dead roses.

Or would that be too obvious?

Despite knowing that her fate had been sealed already, Blair felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest when the judge awarded custody to Todd and Tea. Dorian had embraced her and promised that they'd fight it. Cassie had been as supportive as possible. Blair had run to the ladies room and emptied her stomach into the toilet. It was a miserable feeling, being this helpless and even the promises Todd had made her during their night together had faded in the harsh light of reality.

Would he follow through? Could she count on him? She wanted to so desperately. She wanted to believe that they could put the pieces back together but it was hard to keep the faith. Blair wasn't the kind of woman who could just sit back and wait for things. She wanted to _do_ something!

She wanted to go and get her daughter. She wanted to hold the little girl in her arms and hear her say 'Mommy' and know that she would never have to worry about being replaced. Blair looked up into the evening sky and saw the first stars of the night just beginning to show. "Mama loves you, little girl," she whispered. "Nothing is ever going to change that."

"I'm glad you came back to the hospital, Tea," Andrew sat down next to the bed and smiled warmly at her. "I can't believe that you actually thought you could go to court the other day."

"I couldn't let Todd down," Tea replied. "I had to see it through."

Andrew frowned slightly. He didn't necessarily believe that Todd deserved that kind of devotion but he didn't think it was his place to say so. "When are you going to be allowed home?"

"Tomorrow," Tea took a sip of water and closed her eyes briefly. "Maybe I did overdo it the other day but it was necessary." And it was. The final nails in Blair's coffin were secure and Starr was with Todd. She had more than earned her paycheck. Now they were getting into the bonus round. "At least Starr is safe now."

"Well, I'm sure it's better that the case be finished with," Andrew hedged. He had seen what Blair had gone through to bring Starr into the world. It didn't rest easy on his conscience to see her daughter taken from her. And he certainly didn't trust Todd. That one would always be someone to keep your guard up around. "Todd can focus on taking care of her now rather than dragging Blair through the mud."

Tea cocked one eyebrow at Andrew. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's not particularly fun to watch people tear into each other in public court like they did," Andrew replied. "Especially knowing how much they cared about each other once."

"You're a good man, Andrew," Tea said sincerely. It was true, too. He was well suited as a man of the cloth. He certainly didn't have what it took to be a lawyer. "Custody cases are rarely pretty. Unfortunately, it's the nature of the beast. And you have to consider the children. Blair shoved me out of a second story window," Tea narrowed her eyes. "Do you really think someone that violent should be entrusted with the care of a child?"

Andrew dropped his eyes to the floor. Tea wasn't exactly wrong but she wasn't exactly right, either. Blair didn't normally just lash out and throw people out of windows. Still, he couldn't argue that that's exactly what she _had_ done. "Perhaps not. It just doesn't sit right with me."

Tea sighed again. Andrew just didn't understand. Emotions in the courtroom are merely tools used to win. Negative emotions were the most effective, too. Fear, anger, rage, jealousy, spite... all so malleable and easily manipulated. She hadn't decided to become a lawyer just because it paid well. She went into law because she knew how to make other's emotions work to her advantage.

And once you had the advantage, you did what you could with it. Tea had no intention of relinquishing hers.


	6. Chapter 6

"What the hell was _that_ for, Viki!" Todd bellowed, one hand covering the side of his face where she had just smacked the hell out of him. He didn't know she had it in her!

"I can't believe that you would _ever_ allow _anyone_ to do something so vicious to a woman you claimed to love once," Viki's voice was colder than the dead of winter. "You knew that Tea was going to taunt Blair with the idea that Starr is calling _her_ 'Mommy' and, worse than that, you _let_ her! Todd, you are my brother and I want what's best for you but I _cannot_ allow something like this to stand! If you don't _do_ something to fix this then I will be _forced_ to take matters into my own hands and right this _egregious_ wrong. And let me tell you something else! No one has the right to-"

"I didn't know."

Viki stumbled over her words before stepping back and sizing her brother up. "I beg your pardon?"

"I didn't know that Delgado was gonna do that," Todd's eyes dropped to the floor. "I didn't have any idea. Blair told me about it later that night."

"And you believed her?" Viki looked skeptical. "That's unusual for you, isn't it?"

"It made sense," Todd shrugged his shoulders and turned to stand by the windows near the terrace. "Hey, I know Blair does stupid things when she gets angry but usually the stupid thing she does is me."

"How droll," Viki sniffed.

"Delgado gave me this schtick about 'plausible deniability,'" Todd stared out the window. "You know, I can appreciate it because it's something I'd do. But... when Blair told me... she was looking up at me with those eyes of hers just _begging_ me to tell her that it wasn't true. I tried to imagine Starr calling someone else 'Daddy' and I felt sick to my stomach. The whole thing turned around when Blair told me, Viki. I wasn't too sure about things but I was then. It all made sense. Part of me..." he sighed lightly. "Part of me was glad because the Blair that tossed Delgado out the window... that's _my_ girl. I really love that girl."

Viki moved across the room to stand next to her brother. "I know you do."

They stared out the window for a while in silence. Todd wanted to tell Viki about being with Blair again but was half-afraid that he was setting himself up for another fall with her. Would she even want to be near him again after that drama in the courtroom with Delgado hobbling in with her crutches and bandages? Blair hadn't even looked at him after the judge had decreed that Blair needed the written consent of a psychiatrist before she was allowed to see Starr again. He had to stand there and pretend that he had won something.

He felt sick to his stomach when he looked at Blair and saw her face crumple as Cassie and Dorian surrounded her. He'd wanted to throw himself at her feet and beg her to forgive him for putting her through it all. He figured that would have to wait. He was going to go to Philadelphia and use the Lord lawyers to find a loophole in his contract with Delgado so he could get out of it and keep _her_ from deciding to spew her venom on him. She'd do it, too. Delgado liked the clout that came with his money and family connections. If he took it away and made it clear that it was gone for good she was going to be one pissed off lawyer.

And that was never a pretty sight.

Viki was waiting for her brother to tell her something, _anything_ , that would give her hope that he was beginning to pull himself out of this downward spiral that he'd been stuck in since his return from Ireland. What had _happened_ to him there? He seemed more cut off from everything since his return. Of course he had been hurt when he found Blair with Patrick but he'd retreated into some kind of shell and lashed out from the shadows rather than storming in and demanding explanations like the man he had been before.

Todd was an in-your-face kind of man. So what had happened to make him so squeamish about facing down people since his alleged death?

"Look," Todd turned to his sister. "I've got to go away for a few days and Delgado is in no condition to take care of Starr right now. Can you watch Shorty for me?"

"How ironic," Viki sniffed.

Todd blinked at her. "What?"

"I find it ironic, Todd," Viki repeated, "that Tea suggested _Blair_ was unable to care for her daughter due to the injuries she sustained from the car accident and now, here she is, in a similar predicament. Equally ironic that the woman who was so weak that she couldn't take care of a child is the one who physically threw Tea _out_ the window in the first place. Don't you think?"

"I can appreciate the irony," Todd muttered.

"Of course, she shifted her tactics to making Blair out to be an uncontrollable violent monster rather than being just short of an invalid. Given the evidence she managed to provoke, I can see why she changed that particular argument."

Todd seemed lost in thought.

She reached out to touch his arm. "I apologize for slapping you, Todd. That was… it wasn't right and it was unworthy of me to treat you that way."

A small smile tugged at the corner of Todd's mouth. Viki was from another era. _Unworthy,_ he thought soberly. _I have a long way to go before I stop thinking myself in that way_. "Don't worry about it, Sis," he rubbed his face where it still stung slightly. "I've had worse."

Viki sighed softly. "Todd..."

"Listen," Todd cut her off. "I've got to get going. Can you take care of Shorty for me?"

"Yes," Viki nodded. "I love Starr and love having her at Llanfair. When will you be back?"

"Couple of days," Todd grabbed his keys. "I packed a few things for her, okay? You can see yourself out. I'll be back soon." He was out the door and gone before Viki could say anything in response.

Viki went upstairs to where Starr was sleeping and looked down at the little girl. "Your parents are... very intense," she whispered. "God knows that they both love you and that's what every child needs. I don't care what the courts say, Miss Starr Manning. When you come to Llanfair with me tonight, we're going to see if we can't 'accidentally' see your mother." She reached down and stroked the child's head softly. "I think it would do the both of you a world of good."

Blair walked along the street and tried to quiet the noise in her head. Dorian and Mel hovered constantly and were trying a little too hard to fix the broken Cramer family. Blair didn't want to hear it. She had every right to be angry at Kelly. The accident was an accident and Blair figured she'd get over that despite everything she lost. It was an _accident_ and even though she might bear the scars of it forever she knew it wasn't on purpose.

It was the lying afterwards that Blair couldn't let go of. Everyone talked to her about how important family was, how you stuck together no matter what, and Kelly had watched her life fall apart after the accident and hadn't even had the guts to own up to it. The less said about her involvement in the trial the better.

The residential streets near Dorian's house were grand and spacious. Blair smiled a little wistfully at the beautiful houses and remembered dreams of long ago that would place her as the lady of one such fine house. Idealistic dreams of money and power and a fantastically rich husband that would give her whatever she wanted. Funny how for a brief moment she had that very thing. And her fantastically rich husband had loved her and she had loved him.

Unfortunately, she had to wake up from that dream.

Blair scowled and picked up her pace. The walk was supposed to help clear her head not depress her even more. She held her coat close around her and paused in front of a house framed by large oak trees. Late autumn had made it so only the most stubborn leaves were barely hanging on anymore. Blair felt hot tears streak down her face as she stared at the leaves. "Why do you keep holding on? Don't you get it? You've lost. You already lost and everyone knows it."

She felt pathetic. She felt like the last leaves of autumn hanging stubbornly on even though the season was moving into winter whether she dropped from the tree or not.

She wanted her daughter.

She wanted her husband.

She wanted her _life_ and resented the hell out of the fact that it had been given to some sneering, frumpy lawyer woman while she'd been stuck in a coma.

 _Damn that Todd anyway,_ Blair wiped her cheeks hastily. _If he thinks a couple of kisses is going to make up for this he's got another think coming._ But that could wait. She had to get him back in her world on a more permanent basis before she let him know just where she stood on his overblown sense of jealousy. The minor jealousy that he had shown with David Vickers was one thing. That was fine. It didn't lead to any particularly nasty situations that could wind up with him in jail. The Patrick thing... that was another story and they really did need to come to terms with the series of mistakes that had led them to the place they were stuck in now.

Patrick wasn't an issue anymore, anyway.

Tea, however... Blair narrowed her eyes as she spotted a black Porsche rolling down the street in her direction. Tea was very much an issue and she had a score to settle with the woman who thought she was entitled to take Blair's place in the Manning penthouse. Blair had several scores to settle with that one. But she wasn't going to be pushed into anything like that scene at the Gala again. Oh no. She'd learned that lesson well.

The Porsche came to a stop next to her. Blair raised her eyebrows as the window slid slowly downward to reveal Todd's face behind it. He stared up at her, his eyes glittering brightly in the dark confines of his car, and then jerked his head towards the interior. "Get in."

Blair eyed him for a moment, then strolled casually around the front of the car and slid inside. She buckled her seatbelt as he tore away from the curb and watched him as he drove. "Well, you've got your sports car that goes zero to sixty in about five seconds. You've got your penthouse," she mimicked the bragging words from his prep school days and their Christmas of so long ago. "How about you? Are you happy?"

"You talk too much."

"Guess that's a no." Blair looked out her window as Llanview sped by. "Where are we going?"

"We're just driving," Todd told her, eyes on the road ahead. "I'm heading out of town pretty soon."

Blair looked in the back of the car. "Where's Starr?"

"Starr is fine."

"Where is she, Todd? She better not be with that bitch!"

"I think Viki would take offense to being called a bitch, babe."

Blair exhaled loudly. "She's with Viki?"

"Well, yeah, Blair," Todd grinned. "Tea's in the hospital all banged up. She can't take care of a kid in her condition." He turned his head to look at her, eyes flashing wickedly. "Don't you agree?"

"If by 'her condition' you mean breathing," Blair replied with a sneer, "I'd have to agree."

Todd raised his eyebrows slightly. Blair seemed to be in a particularly venomous mood today. He supposed he couldn't blame her. "That's not what I was talking about."

"I know what you were talking about," Blair leaned her head back against the seat. "It's not as funny to me as it is to you, I guess."

"Okay."

They drove quietly for a while. Blair wondered what she was doing. She may have walked into the biggest trap of all. Todd had custody of Starr so he didn't _need_ to make a happy home with her. He could stay married to his attorney-wife, in his glorious penthouse with all of his glorious money, and just fuck her on the side. She'd probably even let him for a while if he just kept making promises to fix things. The very idea depressed her. She had no faith in anything anymore. What a miserable way to live.

She looked at the trees and caught a glimpse of another small grouping of stubborn leaves and burst into tears.

"Jesus!" Todd pulled over to the side of the road. "Blair, what's wrong?"

Blair didn't answer. She just cried harder.

Todd saw immediately that this was going to take a while. He pulled out onto the road again and headed for his original destination, crooning to Blair the entire way. He hated it when she cried. It tore him to shreds inside and he hated being the cause of her tears more than anything. The back roads around Llantano Mountain were secluded and quiet. Todd found the overlook he wanted and stopped the car then unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over near Blair. "Come on, babe. Don't do that."

"Oh shut up!" Blair wept furiously. "I'll cry any time I damn well please! I've got good reason!"

He grinned in spite of himself. "I guess so. Tell me why you're crying, okay?"

"No!"

"Blair!"

"I'm pathetic," she wailed loudly. "I'm pathetic and sad and I could totally beat you if we were playing our old game today."

He reached over and stroked her hair. "Lay it on me," he murmured lovingly. "Let's see if you can compete with my Hall of Fame record."

"My daughter has been taken from me, I had a stroke, I had a second miscarriage, I lost my baby because I was in a car accident caused by my cousin, my husband divorced me while I was in a coma, I couldn't walk, I couldn't talk, I've been told by a judge that I have to see a psychiatrist before I'm allowed near my daughter again... and now I'm your mistress and you're going to screw me over again probably!" Blair drew her knees up to her chest and launched into another round of stormy tears that made the entire car shake.

Todd sighed heavily. "Yeah, that's pretty pathetic. Your face is all blotchy now, too, and you're probably going to get the hiccups from all that crying."

Blair sent him an evil look.

He unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her up and over the gearshift to sit on his lap. He moved his seat back to give them more room and cuddled her up against him. "Ask me why I'm going to Philly."

"Todd..." Blair leaned her head into the comfortable crook of his neck and felt herself relax against him almost in spite of herself. He was so warm and he curled around her so perfectly. She was a pathetic fool for him.

"Ask me why," he prompted again.

"Why are you going to Philly?"

"Daddy's gotta work," he pressed his lips to her forehead. "Daddy's gotta make things right so Mommy and Starr can come home.

Blair looked up at him then straightened in his lap so she could look him in the eye. He seemed a little anxious to her as she studied him. Anxious... or excited, she deduced. Maybe a little of both. "What's Daddy going to do?"

Todd's lips curved into a knowing smile. He framed her face with his hands and pulled her closer, nuzzling her face softly until she sighed and gripped two handfuls of his hair. When she melted against him like that he touched his mouth to hers lightly, teasing her lips with his tongue until they parted and he could slide it inside. She let him explore her mouth for several moments before letting her tongue duel with his.

Oh, but his kisses were so damn intoxicating. She could forget anything when he kissed her. She felt his thumb tease her earlobe while his other hand danced across her back. He seemed perfectly content to just kiss her and, in all honesty, it felt wonderful to her. She was making out with her boyfriend on an abandoned overlook near Llantano Mountain. If she weren't so busy kissing Todd she'd probably laugh.

She had to give him credit for one thing. He'd made that miserable, last stubborn leaf feeling that had settled over her go away. What else could he do if she gave him the chance?

Todd pulled back, tucking stray locks of her hair behind her ears and gazing at her gently. "Daddy's gonna make it all better."


	7. Chapter 7

Blair rang the doorbell at Llanfair and wondered for the millionth time why Viki had asked her to come visit. Dorian had rattled off about fifty different conspiracy theories as to why. Most of them involved Todd or Dorian herself. Mel had seemed vastly amused by all of them punctuating each theory with an over dramatic 'and the Cramers will be destroyed!' until Dorian threw her hands in the air and told them both to go to hell.

That had been a little unfair in Blair's mind. After all, _she_ hadn't done anything wrong. Blair felt like all she was doing lately was paying for things that other people had done. She had turned into a lightning rod for karmic debt and it was a position she was dying to shake off.

The door opened and Viki's housekeeper, Lois, ushered her in with a pleasant smile. "Ms. Cramer, please come in. Let me take your coat." She waited as Blair shrugged out of her coat. "Mrs. Carpenter is expecting you in the library." She gestured to the door and then moved away.

Take her cue, Blair went into the library and hoped that Viki wasn't set to ambush her. She'd had quite enough of that.

"Blair," Viki greeted her warmly. "I'm so glad you were able to come visit."

"Thank you," Blair offered weakly, feeling extremely uncomfortable. She hated this. She hated feeling as though every person was out to take everything from her. How much of her was left to take? Why did they keep coming?

"Would you like something to drink?" Viki offered. "Some tea perhaps?"

"No thank you," Blair braced herself, waiting for the inevitable.

Viki looked at her for a moment, seeing her discomfort. Blair reminded her of a wounded wolf, wary, cautious and ready to snap at a moment's notice. She supposed it was only right. Blair had been through so much in the last year. "How are you doing, Blair?"

Blair's chin lifted defiantly. "I'm fine. I'm getting stronger every day." She eyed Viki suspiciously for a moment. "I'm not helpless. I can take care of myself and I can take care of my child no matter what _anyone_ says!"

"I have no doubt about that," Viki assured her quietly. "I've never doubted your strength or your tenacity, Blair. And I know how much you love Starr."

Blair crossed her arms defensively. What the hell had she walked in to?

"Todd asked me to look after Starr while he was away," Viki said. "She's upstairs right now and she needs her mother."

A long silence followed Viki's statement as Blair gaped open-mouthed at her ex-sister-in-law. "What?"

"Starr needs her mother," Viki repeated.

Blair blinked hard and swallowed, backing away slowly. "This is a cruel trick, Viki," she hissed. "Everyone knows that I'm not allowed to even _see_ my daughter until a court appointed therapist gives me the okay. I'm not falling for anything that might make some judge decide that I can't be around my baby _at all_."

"This isn't a trick, Blair," Viki shook her head. It made sense that Blair would be downright paranoid at this point and Viki felt ashamed of the way she had helped matters come to this point. "Listen to me," she said seriously. "I am completely serious. After Todd disappeared you never tried to shut me out of your life or Starr's. I'm certain you felt some pressure to do that very thing."

"I'm not going to get into your history with Dorian," Blair said. "Todd and I never had families growing up. I was a foster kid and he got pawned off to Peter Manning. We both wanted more for our children than we had. Thinking Todd was dead didn't change that for me. His being alive didn't change it, either. Not for me." She leveled an angry and accusatory look at Viki. "But it seems that I'm the only one who felt that way."

"I know," Viki dropped her eyes to the floor. "I made several mistakes when Todd returned and I'm trying to rectify them. Do you want to see your daughter?"

Blair stared at Viki incredulously. "Of _course_ I do."

"Then come upstairs," Viki headed that way. Perhaps she was running away from Blair's very valid points but arguing wasn't going to get mother and daughter together any quicker. There was a reunion that needed to happen.

 _Well, you've got two options, Blair,_ she thought watching Viki ascend the stairs. _You can get the hell out of here and avoid any possible traps or you can go upstairs and be with Starr._ She took a deep breath and placed one hand on the banister. _Todd is trying to get us back together as we speak. I know he is. I could wait this out... avoid any trouble..._ She heard Starr giggle loudly and, before she even realized it, Blair was on her way. _I can't wait for Todd... I need my baby._

Tea sat on the couch and gazed at the new surroundings in wonder. She felt like a princess in the penthouse. Gone were all of the hideous, angular, contemporary pieces. They had all been replaced with elegant neutrals and rich details. This was the home she had always dreamed about.

Todd had given her her dream.

It was too bad he wasn't there. She might have had the chance to start making inroads to shift their relationship. Coming home to the newly decorated penthouse had made her even more certain that this was the kind of life she was meant to have.

So Todd wasn't an ideal husband. He was surly, moody and rather childish. Fine with her. She would just have to establish who was boss. Most men just needed a firm hand. Todd was volatile but she had a contract to keep him in line. This was definitely a situation she could live with.

She picked up the phone, eager to show off her magnificent new house. "Rachel? It's Tea."

"Hey girl," her friend sounded genuinely glad to hear from her. "How are you doing? You on the mend?"

"I'm from sturdy stock," Tea sniffed. "I can handle a little fall. Anyway, I'm home now. I was hoping you'd find your way over and say 'hi' in person."

There was a long silence. "Is Todd there?"

"No," Tea rolled her eyes. Rachel really needed to get over it already. Grudges were so tedious. "He's out of town so I've got the place to myself."

"Well," Rachel hedged. "I can probably drop by for a little while."

"I wish you would," Tea said sincerely. "I really miss my friend."

Rachel laughed warmly. "All right, all right. I'm coming over, okay?"

Tea hung up the phone and picked up the note Todd left.

 _Out of town. Starr's at Viki's. Hope you like the new stuff. Get well soon._

She smiled and snuggled against the cushions of the couch. "Thank you, Blair," she said aloud. "I couldn't have gotten this without you. Keep up the good work."


	8. Chapter 8

"Look at you!" Blair's entire face lit up when she came through the door of the nursery and saw Starr bouncing in her crib. "Look at how gorgeous you are!"

Starr lifted her arms towards Blair and let out a delighted squeal. "Mama!"

Blair picked up her daughter and squeezed her tightly. "Oh, baby girl, I missed you so much!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reveling in the sweet scent of her child. She felt tears sliding down her cheeks and kissed Starr over and over and over again, half-afraid to let her go after being separated from her.

Viki watched for a few moments, noting that Blair had gone from suspicious to incandescent in an eyeblink. She wished Todd were here so she could smack him again. Actually, Viki wished that she could line up a whole group of people and mow them down for their roles in this misery. Herself included. _Objective you are not, Victoria,_ she chastised herself. _You let a mother get hung out to dry just because you don't personally get along with her aunt. You let Todd's pain blind you to what was best for him and for Blair and for Starr. Your little brother is trouble and you let him suck you into his side because you want to fix things too much._ "Blair, come with me. I have a place where the two of you can be alone."

"This isn't enough?" Blair looked around the nursery.

"You said yourself that there is a court order against you seeing Starr right now," Viki reminded her. "And this house does tend to have visitors. I think this is a safer option for you."

Blair looked at her daughter and nodded silently.

Irony was a funny thing, Viki decided as she climbed the stairs to the attic with Blair in tow. This was where Todd had first met his daughter and was, most likely, the place he decided to kidnap her as well. Viki wondered if her family was just cursed with bad timing. She had actually been encouraging Blair to move on with Patrick and, as it turned out, that was the very thing that drove the wedge between Blair and Todd.

And as for Tea, Viki didn't know what to think. She was inclined to sympathize with Tea for the way Kevin had used her but now she wasn't so sure. She went from one Lord to another and Viki wondered if the victim act wasn't just that. She opened the door to the attic and let Blair in with Starr. "I'll leave you alone," she murmured.

"Viki," Blair's voice softened as she turned to face her. "Thank you so much."

Viki smiled and close the door, leaving mother and daughter alone.

"Oh, let me look at you," Blair touched Starr's face gently. "You've gotten so big and I've missed it! I've missed you!"

"Mama not gone..." Starr giggled.

"No," Blair felt her eyes burn with unshed tears and hugged her daughter tightly. "Mama's not gone. Mama's always going to be with you, little Starr. Always."

Todd looked out the window of the law firm of Colton, Westhouse and Blake and wondered what Blair was doing. He was surprised at his feelings. He'd managed to cut off his need for her for so long that it surprised him how ravenous he was for her now that he'd let himself have her again. _Cut it out, Manning,_ he berated himself. _You've got more important things to worry about now. Focus and then you can have your damn fill of Blair._

Right now he was focused on the movements of a shrewd eyed man sitting behind a large mahogany desk perusing the contract he'd made with Delgado. _Lawyer/client confidentiality don't fail me now._ Todd was taking a risk by giving the lawyer the information he had. He was risking losing an awful lot but staying in the contract might mean losing even more. For once, he was going to rein in his stubborn pride and go for the golden ring. He had it in his hand once, he could get it back.

Jeremy Westhouse cleared his throat to get Todd's attention. Todd turned away from the window and took a seat across the desk from him. "Mr. Manning, you've got quite a problem on your hands."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Jeremy smiled slightly. "Well, your finding an unethical lawyer to perpetrate a fraud in order to hold onto your child isn't the most unusual case that has crossed my desk. It's not even the worst."

"Really?" Todd blinked. He was so used to being told that every action he had was the wrong one. It was rather refreshing to have someone casually shrug off fraud like it was no big deal.

"It wouldn't be the first time a lawyer did something unethical, Mr. Manning," Jeremy said with a wry grin. "Lawyers have a reputation for being sharks for very good reason. My only question to you is this: If you were going to get an unethical lawyer, why didn't you hire a good one?"

Todd raised his eyebrows. "How do you mean?"

"I mean, given the nature of this entire case, you would have most likely retained custody of your daughter without having to partake in a fraudulent marriage. Courts are loathe to break up families, Mr. Manning, even when they should. And given the fact that your ex-wife had given you custodial rights of the child while she was away it stands to reason that you would have retained those rights and your ex-wife's aunt would have had very little to say about it."

"The battle axe is pretty influential."

Jeremy leveled a cool gaze at Todd. "Your family is no slouch when it comes to influence, either."

"So you're saying I was an idiot?"

"I'm suggesting that someone may have taken advantage of you when you were not at your best," Jeremy said diplomatically. "Grief does things to people and there have been many instances when grief and desperation lead a person who would usually see a set-up down a blind path."

"You think I can get out of this contract because I was real sad?" Todd looked skeptical. "That seems a bit too easy to me."

"That's why you're not a lawyer, I imagine," Jeremy said dryly. "Mr. Manning, there are a number of options available to us."

"Us?"

"Am I or am I not your lawyer in regards to this dispute?"

Todd grinned. "I'd say you are."

"Very well then," Jeremy nodded and began to take notes. "The first thing we need to do is figure out what you want and then we figure out how to get it for you."

"I want my daughter. I want Blair. And I want out of this damn contract with Delgado."

"How far are you willing to go to get what you want?"

"How far do I need to go?"

Jeremy smiled, his blue eyes crinkling. "Very good, Mr. Manning. This time it would be much better for you if you didn't take the most desperate route without knowing what your options are."

"All right," Todd frowned. "I know I messed up. How do I fix it? Hell, I already promised Blair that I would. What do I have to do to get it done?"

"Let's start at the beginning, shall we?" Jeremy steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair. "There are a number of issues that need to be neutralized before you can officially reunite your family, Mr. Manning. The court decisions regarding your ex-wife must be rectified and that will take time. Also, there is the issue of your current wife."

"What about her?"

"A woman who enters into a marriage of convenience for money is after something specific," Jeremy said quietly. "Now, you have to decide whether you are willing to give her what she wants or find a way to make it so that when you take what she wants from her, she won't retaliate against you."

"Delgado has to be ready to lose as much as me, huh?"

"Precisely," Jeremy narrowed his eyes. "She did a very good job of covering herself with this contract of yours and you didn't do as thorough a job. There are some outs that can be arranged but not without a great deal of noise and scrutiny. I don't see you being particularly eager to have the microscope taken to your life right now."

Todd sighed. _Fucking Patrick,_ he raged inwardly. _If it weren't for that stupid mick I wouldn't be in this damned mess!_ "What kind of trap do I need to set for Delgado?"

Jeremy smiled. "What is it that she's most afraid of losing?"

Todd found himself grinning. _This could be fun..._

Blair watched Starr sleep and wiped her cheeks. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't stay with her daughter. She had to go back and continue trying to get the courts to recognize that she wasn't a danger to anyone except Tea Delgado.

And on that front, she had learned her lesson. No witnesses. She'd almost killed Asa that way and it was still a point of pride to her. Mrs. Wanna-Be Manning would do well to watch her back when she was alone, that's for sure. No one took her daughter away and then crowed about it.

She stroked Starr's head softly and then went downstairs to find Viki waiting for her in the foyer.

"I have something for you, Blair."

"Really, Viki, you don't have to do anything else. Seeing Starr was so special..."

"I know," Viki smiled. "But I have something that might give you a reason to come by on a regular basis. And one never knows who one might run into here, after all."

Blair cocked her head.

"You know, I was very impressed with the way you handled _The Sun_ while Todd was gone," Viki's voice shifted to a conversational tone. "And your writing is quite good, it always was. I was wondering if you would be interested in doing some freelance work for _The Banner_."

"Freelance work?"

"Of course, I would be your editor," Viki said with a glint in her eyes. "And I have to warn you that I am quite the stickler when it comes to my paper. Perfectionist doesn't quite cover it but it's close enough. At any rate, I'm certainly willing to offer you a decent price for your words. If you're interested that is..."

Blair smiled. _Wait until I tell Todd I'm working for the enemy._ "Consider me interested, Mrs. Carpenter. Shall we discuss details?"


End file.
